Meet the Finalists in SF Weekly's 2011 Masterminds Grant Competition

SF Weekly Staff

7 years ago

A photo from the "Lost in Daydreams" series.

SF Weekly's Artopia enters its fourth year of highlighting exceptional Bay Area artists. More than 300 people – a record number – submitted entries this year for our three $1,500 grants. We received a lot of deserving work, and choosing 10 finalists was difficult. The Bay Area has long been an incubator of acclaimed art. Ansel Adams, Richard Diebenkorn, Raymond Saunders, and Ruth Asawa are just a few who have been deemed masters of their craft. Accordingly, “Masterminds” is what we call the Artopia winners. Our finalists can cite influences from far and wide, but their vision is uniquely their own. Painters, sculptors, photographers, musicians, filmmakers, writers, and a quilter — a heavy-metal quilter, at that — are in our Top 10. All their art will be displayed at Artopia, which takes place this year at Public Works. There, the three winners will be announced to fanfare and, we know, a great deal of applause.

We'll post short items about our finalists every day this week until Artopia on Wednesday. Here are the first three: